9 April 2011

Saturday harbor ride

It was cold and sunny. My hands were really cold at first and I wished I had put on gloves, but after an hour or so, it was fine. The sun glared on the eastern horizon. It was cold and windy on San Andreas, and the pack split up. I was in the trailing group, so it wasn't hard to stay in that pack. I wound up near a big guy on a Calfee that kept moving laterally, including one abrupt move of about three feet to the right, so I was trying to get away from him while staying in the draft and wishing that he had made the front group. A bunch of the lead pack had turned right at Thurwachter, which, I guess, would be the long route today. As usual, I went up Casserly. On Mt Madonna, just after Casserly Market, the group started splitting up, long before the steep part where it usually splits up. I went up Hazel Dell with one, then two other riders for a while, before dropping back, and then descended to Corralitos alone. I got into a group of 7 or 8 going over Hames, Day Valley, and Valencia, so that part when faster than usual, and then headed back on Soquel.